Alternator Failure: Some kind of warning device?

Couple years ago, the alternator on my 'burb failed.
Today the alternator on my wife's Lumina failed.
Same scenario in both cases:
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- The failure was not detected by the driver by looking
at the instrument panel - and it seems to me that in order
to detect such a failure in time, the driver would have to
check the ammeter every half hour of so while driving -
maybe The Right Thing To do... but hardly realistic for
most drivers.
- The battery got sucked dry by the engine running w/no alternator
- Once the battery was dry, all systems just *stopped*: Flashers
didn't work, brake lights didn't work... and so-forth. Dunno
about power brakes/power steering because I wasn't there on
the second one and the first one happened when the vehicle had
already stopped.
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In both cases, we lucked out and this happened in a relatively
friendly environment.
But what if it had happened while doing 70 in the middle lane
of I-95?
I see a real chance of a multi-car pileup and maybe loss of life.
So, bottom line: Anybody of an aftermarket gadget that will raise
an audible alarm as soon as the charging rate falls below a preset
level?

Thats what the gauge is for. You should be checking them every so often, I
don't see how you think that isn't realistic for most drivers unless most
drivers need to go back to driving school.
You would then need the same type of alarm for temp, oil pressure, even fuel
level since you can't look at those gauges either.
Your gauge gives that early warning, if an ammeter you will see a large
negative swing, a voltmeter you will see the voltage drop from ~14 to ~12.
Autometer does make a warning buzzer for their aftermarket gauges, you wire
it in with your autometer gauge and then set the levle you want the warning
to sound.

I'd say that "should" is the operative word there.
I'm probably as paranoid as anybody can get vehicle-wise... and I check my
gauges a *lot*. But catching an alternator failure would mean checking the
meter at least every half hour while driving.
My average time between alternator failures seems tb about 60,000 miles. I can
see somebody forcing themselves to check every 20 minutes or so for the first
thousand... maybe two thousand... but I'd venture that it's an extremely rare
driver that can keep that up year-in-and-year-out. Couple times a day... no
problem.. Now-and-then throughout the day, no problem... but every 20 minutes
all day, day-after-day... For myself, at least, I have my doubts.
Thanks for the pointer to AutoMeter... I'm browsing through their stuff right
now.

Agreed. I don't pay attention to the dash as much as I should. These
days the danger is running out of gas.
-
Gordie
Acts 13:32, 33 (NWT)
32 "And so we are declaring to YOU the good news about the promise made to the
forefathers,
33 that God has entirely fulfilled it to us their children in that he
resurrected Jesus;
even as it is written in the second psalm, 'You are my son, I have become your
Father
this day.'"
Do you mean to tell me that Jesus WAS NOT BEGOTTEN until the day
of his ressurection?

"The Nolalu Barn Owl"
<&#103&#111&#114&#100&#105&#101&#64&#110&#111&#108&#97&#108&#117&#46&#111&#110&#46&#99&#97>
wrote in message

Checking the idiot light, which many vehicles have, won't always alert you
an alternator problem. On many vehicles the warning light doesn't come on
if the alternator is still putting out voltage even though the voltage isn't
high enough to charge the battery or run 12 volt equipment.
Ron

And that is what I mean, you should be checking all gauges every 5-10
minutes as well as your mirrors, etc. Way back in drivers ed there was
some sort of official name for the pattern you follow that I don't recall
but it should be quite often you check.

That's old fashioned stuff. Now you just look out the windshield, never at
the dash unless you already know there is a problem that needs your
attention. Our Park Avenue has an HUD (Heads Up Display). It constantly
shows your speed, shows if the headlights are on bright, displays turn
signals when they are turned on and most importantly, if any gauge or
message in the driver info center are out of normal parameters it displays
then message 'check dash'. All the info looks like it is about 2' feet in
front of the hood just floating in the air. It is really habit forming,
wish if had been available for my '06 Chevy 3500!
Ron

I glance at *all* of my gauges very frequently. Probably every minute. If
you feel looking down at your gauges every half hour is unreasonable...you
probably should be driving a vehicle with idiot lights. Nothing personal,
but idiot lights work best for errr *those* that can't remember to check
their gauges.
If I drive a few blocks to the grocery store, I could tell you after the one
minute drive what my transmission temp was, what my oil pressure was, engine
temp and how my charging system was doing as well.

I check mine at stop lights/signs in stop an go traffic or when no ones very
close at speed every 20-30 mins.Not at speed with people close by when I
should be paying attention to traffic and side mirrors.

\
Newer cars place a lot higher demands on them and under hood temps are
higher too because they run engine hotter and use less aggressive
cooling at times which rasie under hood temps. Luminia's can be really
bad about this because the alt in mounted in the hottest part of the
engine compartment.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com

Yes because it is made up of four parts, a stator or field, and rotor,
a diode rectifier unit, (because they produce AC current internally)
and a regulator. The more power they produce the hotter they get and
the hotter the environment they work it, the shorter the potentail
life span because it is just a question of time before heat breaks
them down.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com

My 89 burb still ahs the original alt in it and other than replacing
the rear bearing in it at about 125K miles it has been trouble free
and now has 177K on it. I drove a 91 toyota car 215k miles in 12 years
and never had any alt problems. The only major work it had was new
struts at about 165K miles and a new timing belt and water pump at
190K (water pump was still good but it was easier to change while belt
was off) It is not unreasonable to expect more than 50K out of new
cars alt though.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com

Wow good records! Newer is not always better, I have even had my 89
cross country more than a dozen times too and it has never failed once
even in temps of 40 below. It also has twin block heaters that still
do not leak. I do cheat in this regard though because I run 70/30 mix
and a 7 PSI cap and have since it was almost new and never had any
heating problems and it has seen 105 and abit more. On you clunk, you
might check to see if the front slip yoke on rear drive shaft is
binding as it slips in and out of tranny or Tcase as this can be a
known issue with them.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com

Every car I buy, I go down to staples and get one of those little hard-cover
ledger books that's just small enough to fit in the glove box. When I spend
money on the vehicle, I make a note: Miles, Date, Nature of expense.... That
includes gas/oil. In the back, I'll write down dates/times/way points when we
take it on vacation. Now that I've accumulated a few of these books they're
kind of like old family photos: browse through them and memories come back...

What's your feeling on when this thing will be ready to retire?
I was thinking about trying to make it to 250k, but a mechanic I talked to
yesterday said more like 200k. I'm at 130 now and drive less than 30k per year
so maybe it's moot for the forseeable future... but still...

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